Youth Council STEAM Exhibition
STEAM education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics. STEAM takes STEM to the next level: it allows students to connect their learning with art practices, elements, design principles, and standards to provide the whole pallet of learning at their disposal.
The WISEST Youth Council created the STEAM Exhibition to showcase extraordinary artistic and scientific projects created by high school students. The event began in 2024, and has since expanded to include participants from across Canada. The work showcased has ranged from sculptures to songwriting, including watercolour bacteriophages and portraits made out of the digits of pi.
Highlights from this year’s virtual exhibition consist of a painting made of rust, Gel-X nails depicting the cell cycle, and a dress displaying the circulatory system. Judges selected a first-place winner, two second-place winners, and two third-place winners whose projects are displayed below. Congratulations to everyone who participated!
2026 1st Place Winner
“Root Code”
Wendy Ritz
Town: Pincher Creek, AB
High School: Saint Michael's Catholic School
Project Description:
"When humanity began to build, our minds sought to follow the patterns and forces that surrounded us. Our engines and our hearts are one, pumping fuel and blood to sustain motion and life. Our crowded streets and capillary beds are one, alive with movement and exchange. They branch outward from the center of a settlement as it grows—like an expanding supernova—mirroring the universe itself: a living, evolving system.
And so we are one with all in this system of roots. Our curiosity leads us to explore deeper into the soil, the stars, atoms, circuits, and oceans, where we discover even more branches and roots composing this infinite tree.”
2026 2nd Place Winners
“The Anatomy of Connection”
Mia Fields
Town: Edmonton, AB
High School: Harry Ainlay High School
Project Description:
“For my project, I mixed ferric ammonium citrate with potassium ferricyanide and exposed it to UV light to produce ferric ferrocyanide. A water-insoluble Prussian blue appears on the fabrics in the negative space of my prints. This project combines human X-ray prints with natural forms and abstract depictions of connective tissue. I used the principles of design to convey the message that we are all united by the physiology and patterns that link us to each other and nature.”
“Fulhame’s Reaction”
Evelyn Holt
Town: Edmonton, AB
High School: Archbishop MacDonald High School
Project Description:
“My project is a portrait of the chemist Elizabeth Fulhame, known to be “the first solo woman researcher of modern chemistry”, and an early pioneer in the field of oxidation-reduction reactions. For this project, I used an oxidation reaction to create rust by applying various household chemicals on an iron plate, collected the resulting rust, and used the rust as my artistic medium, much like charcoal, to render the final piece.”
2026 3rd Place Winners
“Women at Work”
Jaxine Bautista
Town: Beaumont, AB
High School: École Secondaire Beaumont Composite
Project Description:
“In this piece, I chose to depict a representation of Women in STEM by researching one of each domain, while embodying their founding/what they did, as well as materializing my own ability to contribute to each subject. Each career field is classified in their representative colours, (Science as green, Technology as blue, Engineering as purple, and Math as red) while also unifying them with a touch of pink to demonstrate their femininity. My goal here was to bring awareness to the women in work fields and prove that they are capable!”
“The Forgotten Beauty of STEM”
Emree Van Domselaar
Town: Fort Saskatchewan, AB
High School: Fort Saskatchewan High School
Project Description:
“In the academic world I find that the beauty of science is often overlooked. This painting is a love letter to the many fields of science. Each object represents a different sector of STEM. I wanted to create something that represented STEM but could also stand on its own as art. A big inspiration for this piece was baroque still lifes known as vanitas. Known for their stark shadows and dramatic imagery, vanitas served as reminders of the brevity of life. I think that concept is very evident in the science world; to dedicate your life to science often means you won't see the effects of your research. Even so, there's a beauty in the idea that everyone's contribution adds up to create massive impacts.”
2025 1st Place Winner
“A Peek Inside”
Elizabeth MacMullin
Town: Coaldale, AB
High School: Prairie Winds Secondary
Project Description:
"My work is about the struggles of anorexia nervosa portrayed by a brain with hands holding what those who have the struggle fear most: food. My artwork reveals what the inside of the brain is thinking when an individual has anorexia through pH strips that have written thoughts on them."
2025 2nd Place Winner
“Pi-oneering Mind: Katherine Johnson”
Julia Kim
Town: Edmonton, AB
High School: Harry Ainlay High School
Project Description:
“This portrait of Katherine Johnson is created entirely from the digits of pi, honouring her extraordinary contributions to mathematics and space exploration through her precise calculations of orbital mechanics. By combining art with the mathematical constant, this piece celebrates Johnson’s resilience and perseverance as a Black woman mathematician, and depicts the infinite potential of women in
STEM fields.”
2025 3rd Place Winners
“Missing Pieces”
Kendalea Franklin
Town: Beaumont, AB
High School: École Secondaire Beaumont Composite
Project Description:
“My project is an 18” by 24” mixed media piece that represents the way they use DNA, blood typing, finger prints, forensic sketches, and bones to identify not only victims but suspects as well.”
"The Long Lasting Effects of Social Trauma: how social anxiety can affect you mentally and physically"
Anita Liang
Town: Calgary, AB
High School: Dr. EP Scarlett High School
Project Description:
“My project is about how social anxiety can feel like and how this can affect you mentally and physically. It connects to science because within the project I've added references to parts of the body and brain that are affected by social anxiety and causes like trauma that contributes to it.”
2024 Winner
"Growth Amidst the Darkness: Renewal and Recovery from Depression"
Sara Kam
Town: St. Paul, Alberta
High School: St. Paul Regional High School
Project Description: Depression, despite being one of the most common mental illnesses in the world, is often greatly misunderstood. Because of this, I decided to represent depression’s effect on the brain artistically as a way to raise awareness and reduce the stigma around mental health. This brain is a direct rendition of what a depressed mind looks like on a PET scan: increased blues, followed by decreased whites and warm-toned colors, represent lowered brain activity. The contrasting colors of the flowers appear on the scan of a healthy brain, representing the resilience within the mind of someone with depression, just like how flowers thrive in adverse conditions. In conclusion, understanding and accepting mental illness as a legitimate health concern can dismantle the embarrassment around it, prompt earlier intervention, and ultimately save lives.
2024 Runner-Up
“The Small Things, and the Big Picture”
Tanya Wang
City: Calgary, Alberta
High School: Dr. E. P. Scarlett
Project Description: For my project, I really wanted to embody the things I love about biology, so I made microbe art paintings out of bacteria I grew at home. At school, I never really take much personal interest in the things we learn, but in biology class, I always find myself genuinely engaged and interested in the topics that we cover. I especially really liked learning about the body systems and all of the millions of tiny things our bodies do every day just to go through our daily lives. So, for my project, I wanted to show how the small things can make up a beautiful bigger picture, hence the name, "The Small Things, and the Big Picture".
2024 Runner-Up
“Strokes of Biochemical Brilliance: A Portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin”
Helena Atkinson
City: Beaumont, Alberta
High School: Ecole Secondaire Beaumont Composite High School
Project Description: My project is a portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin, world renowned chemist and first British woman to win a Nobel Prize. Using cabbage juice as a biochemical pH indicator mixed with an array of substances as my media in a “watercolour” style, I believe I captured my vast interests within chemistry, biology, and art; along with showcasing Dorothy and the advances she has made in the science community. Like Cyril Norman Hinshelwood said, “Chemistry: that most excellent child of intellect and art,” this quote represents to me the beauty and magic of chemistry that Dorothy, myself, and many others find so fascinating. I hope to spread the message that all women in STEM have the potential and deserve to be celebrated, especially if they are under credited or not as well known like Dorothy Hodgkin.